Monday, February 26, 2024

It's official! I'm published!

The other life change in January was finishing my romance short story for an anthology our writing group (The Write Spice) decided upon at our Christmas retreat. I figured I could do it because Christmas was the only thing stretched out before me at that retreat. Who knew that life would throw a curveball and we’d be planning a wedding?

I had to make some adjustments, the hardest of which was going from writing a 75,000+ word novel to a 6,000-word short story. As I’ve mentioned many times, there are tons of rules to romance writing. I had to research those same rules and suggestions for reducing my word count by more than half.

But I did it, and no, it was not easy. I originally hoped to set the scene for my romance series, but that plan went awry, and I had to scrap several writing drafts. My Orlando trip disrupted my writing plans, and even though I wrote frantically at the pool, in the car, and in my head, I discarded most of it, too.

When I got home, I wrote like a fiend. While I missed the deadline, these ladies gave me leeway, accepting my lateness and helping me through the other processes where I lagged. Eventually, my story came together, and I submitted it and got caught up in critiquing everyone else’s manuscript.

Our book launched! It’s available at major retailers, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple. I am officially a published author.

Of course, early sales went to my relatives. Shout out to all of you who support me! I love you!

The great thing is how much I’ve learned about the process. I have experience working with an editor, going live on a Facebook Launch, and interviewing on a podcast. From there, I applied to be an officially published author on Amazon and finally created a website.

When we received our paperback copies, we discovered several mistakes. I worked with the software to correct those, and now I have a better idea of how to self-publish my book when the time comes.

It’s been a fabulous experience. Have I mentioned that I’m a published author?


Those interested in romance can find it HERE. The paperback version is a tad expensive (we don’t set that for Amazon), so if you are interested in a signed paperback version, email me at cmkerwin@gmail.com. I’m selling them for $10.


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